Sierra Leone News: Bitter kola not a cure for Ebola – Health Ministry

The myth that Garcinia Kola locally called ‘bitter kola’ is a cure for Ebola has been dispelled by the Health Communication Officer in the Directorate of Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health.
Harold Thomas told Reporters that it has not been scientifically proved and that to date no vaccine or cure has been found for the virus.
Local newspapers reported last week that Bitter Kola had stopped the Ebola virus in test tubes in initial laboratory experiments that was done in the United States of America in the late 1990s.
The Health Communication Officer, made this clarification in a press conference organized by the Ministry at the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists conference hall in Freetown.
Thomas said there is no home remedy so far, but that there is treatment for the virus. He said the chance of survival of a suspected case is much higher at a treatment center than at home.
However, he said the effective way of preventing the virus is by washing hands with soap under running water, use of chlorine or bleach.
Thomas said one can also prevent the virus if they do not touch the body of a person who has died from the suspected Ebola; sharing sharp objects such as needles or razor blades with infected persons, avoiding direct contact with body fluids like blood, saliva, vomit, stool, semen, vaginal fluids and urine.
By Abibatu Kamara
Monday July 21, 2014